Sunday 30 March 2008

FITNA

Can't find FITNA? Found one of the fake versions on YouTube instead? Try this link:

AJM's FITNA

This is the version I saw on LiveLeak a few days ago.

RightCrazy has some other links as well as a downloadable version:

This thing is out there and the genie’s damned well not going back into the bottle. And now that you’ve managed to work your usual magic of murderous intimidation, even more people are going to want to see it to find out what the hell all the fuss is over.  Here’s a list of some of the places where you can still download the video and see it for yourself:


AJM (dedicated server — very fast)

Bivouac-ID (French subtitles)

Czech Infidel (Czech subtitles)

Daily Motion (flagged as inappropriate — must register to see it)

Google video

Isohunt (links to torrent sites)

Rapid Share (flv format)

Rapid Share (wmv format)

The Pirate Bay (bit torrent)


If none of those work, just click here and download it from my server (about 35MB in .wmv format for now) to keep on your hard drive.  Here’s a torrent link, if that’s more your style.  And as soon as I can find it in a format that’ll embed good here, I’ll be doing that too.


I don't know the site, but that particular post is worth reading in full.

Thursday 20 March 2008

The tooth fairy

I've had a lot of trouble communicating with my dentist recently, and it's not because I put the wrong teeth in.

It started like this: I needed to arrange an appointment for a tricky (and expensive) piece of work. Using a number stored on my mobile, I phoned the reception and asked how long an appointment to book. The receptionist said she didn't know - the best thing would be for me to discuss it with Ali, the dentist, who would call me when he was free. He never called.

I tried again a fortnight later. The receptionist took down my full name (I had to spell it three times) and agreed to arrange an appointment with Ali. I suggested the next Tuesday afternoon; she said Ali didn't work Tuesday afternoons, how about Thursday?

Fine, I said, but how long should the appointment be?
"Well, you'd need an initial consultation first..."
No, no, I said; I'd had the consultation, I'd had the X-ray, we'd agreed the work to be done, all I needed was to make a long enough appointment.
"Then I think you'd better talk to the dentist..."

I explained, through clenched teeth (bad dental habit), that I'd already been through that with the other receptionist.

"Oh... but I can't find you on our database. Have you been to us before?"
Yes, I was a regular, and at my last appointment Ali and I had agreed the work to be done.

My voice was becoming strained, but through the red haze the truth began to glimmer. I asked if this was the Abbey Grove Dental Practice.

"No, this isn't the Practice, this is the Clinic."
The Abbey Grove Dental Clinic? Not the Abbey Grove Dental Practice?
"Yes, the Clinic, not the Practice - it's not the one in Abbey Grove, it's the one in Charing Cross."
Okaaaay... but they did have a dentist called Ali?
"No, we don't".
Then with whom had she been going to make the appointment?
No reply.

Dazed by the inversion of normal sequence during this bizarre conversation, I mumbled something about checking the phone number and hung up.

The next day I found the number of the real dental practice on an old appointment card. I got through to a courteous receptionist with a brain, operating in real time. The real Ali phoned me back just as promised. I booked an appointment in a few seconds. There is no tooth fairy and all is well.

Of course, if I'd been trying to get an appointment with an NHS dentist, I'd still be waiting. Some people do believe in the National Tooth Fairy, who flits from flower to flower sipping National Insurance contributions and fixes your teeth for free. They get upset when they can't find a National Health dentist to take them on: they don't see why the demand for "free" dentistry should so exceed supply.

Too big to fail

I heard on the news today that the British government is likely to pump another £11 billion into the financial system - this time to help high street banks keep on lending. Just whose billions is the Chancellor planning to give to the banks? The government doesn't have any money of its own, so it's going to be taxpayer's money - whether taken directly from tax funds or indirectly by printing money. Words fail me. Fortunately, Alex Epstein of the Ayn Rand Institute does have something to say in his short but illuminating article "Too Big to Fail". He explains how the policy of bailing out big banks encourages poor investment decisions at the expense of those who exercise better judgment, and argues that the risk of bankruptcy is the ultimate protection against irresponsible lending policies. Instead of allowing the people who make the bad decisions to suffer the consequences, the government encourages corporate and individual irresponsibility by interfering in financial markets. If the American and British governments go on implementing panic measures then, as Epstein says, "the next financial market fiasco is just a matter of time."

Sunday 9 March 2008

When the Fat Lady Sings...

...the controversy about low carbohydrate v. low fat diets may end. The idea that high carb diets promote weight gain is older than most people think. For instance, in the 1930s short story "Jeeves and the song of songs", Bertie Wooster has this to say of his pal's intended: "...she proved to be an upstanding light-heavyweight...she seemed to me a good deal what Cleopatra would have been after going in too freely for the starches and cereals."

This hilarious story was dramatised in the TV series "Jeeves and Wooster" (which Secular Foxhole reminded me of in his recent comment)

Coarse Outfits

I am taking a short course on elementary web design. One of the students gave us a link to an example of bad design, Bosfish. What stuck in my mind even more than the garish fonts was the opportunity to buy a Coarse Outfit. I have always wanted to wear a coarse outfit. I can't choose between the Mega Coarse Outfit 2007 and The Supreme Coarse Outfit 2007, but both are probably still in fashion. This page also offers coarse packs, such as the 'Baggin Machine' Waggler Pack and the Shock Core Elastic Pack from Middy. Those do sound vaguely but shockingly coarse. No wonder fishing is the most popular participation sport in Britain.

Saturday 8 March 2008

English Immigration Restrictions

I demand that we place immigration restrictions on the English language. Words that have already settled into English must, I suppose, be allowed to stay - all those Greeks and Romans and French and Dutch and Indians and Arabs have been here for so long that we'd have a job getting rid of them now. But no new immigrants! Let us have no more foreign words stealing the jobs English words used to do! If we have to support redundant words, let them be English words, not words that don't belong to this language. We should keep foreign words out before they swamp our schools and hospitals. We have to stop these words from just waltzing into our language without restriction, as though they had a right to be here. Those admitted on tourist visas should be italicized and made to leave as soon as their time is up.

Laughing at anti-immigration arguments is one thing. For a reasoned defence of free immigration, go to the internet version of The Objective Standard and read the article "Immigration and Individual Rights" by Craig Biddle. He's talking about America, but the same moral principles apply to immigration into this country.